The aesthetic appearance of roads, parking lots and driveways, particularly those made of asphalt, can be improved by imprinting a pattern onto the surface, which for example, can be made to resemble brick, cobblestone, stone, or the like.
Many methods for imprinting asphalt or concrete have been tried, or proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,832,079 and 3,910,711 to Moorhead describe a concrete or paving forming apparatus and process whereby a roller forms a pattern in the pavement and an intervening sheet of plastic film is said to prevent binding and gouging of the pavement surface. U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,354 to Bowman shows a wheel-like imprinting device having blades on a circular frame, and is propelled and ballasted by a person. U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,402 to Stowell & Zaseybida describes a grid-like template that is progressively compressed into, and lifted from, the asphalt surface. This method is labor intensive and leaves many defects caused by the multiple seams caused by the multiple seams and also by compressing with rollers or plates, the steel cables move and make prints that are not necessarily uniform. As well, by walking on fresh asphalt to maneuver the grids, many marks are left. The slower process also causes problems with maintaining proper temperature of the asphalt.